SuperDell wrote:A lot of historians, archaeologists and the like don't believe a lot of what religions claim is fact.
Science does not show disrespect. It looks for verifiable reality. Facts that can be tested to see if they really are facts and if what is claimed is actually reality. Faith is not enough.
I couldn't agree more!
Aron Ra got it right when he said:
Remember also that faith, (an unreasonable assertion of complete conviction which is not based on reason and is defended against all reason) —is the most dishonest position it is possible to have. Any belief which requires faith should be rejected for that reason.
He also said, among many other gems of wisdom:
There are so many people who tell me, “if I had a time machine and could prove that Jesus never rose from the dead”, with the admission that “I hope my faith and I are strong enough that I can keep on believing, even when my eyes tell me otherwise.” That’s make-believe! That’s lying to yourself. That’s the entirety of what religion is.
There are even some theists who have gone so far as to admit that if they found something in the Bible that supported the notion that two plus two equaled 5, they would have to find some way to accept that notion as fact and accommodate themselves to it. The more strongly their convictions are refuted by incontrovertible fact, the more virtuous they feel for maintaining the steadfast "faith" to persist in those convictions.
I fully agree with this quote too:
No matter how positively you think you know it, if you can’t show it, then you don’t know it, and you shouldn’t say that you do.